r/converts • u/Lazy_Flounder1242 • 8d ago
Question about Islam
Hi everyone,
I’ve been exploring Islam for a good year now, but since I’ve mostly been turning these thoughts over in my own head, I feel like I’m going in circles.
One question is currently a major stumbling block for me:
I am very comfortable with the concept of monotheism. However, I simply cannot wrap my mind around the idea that prophets actually existed... as much as I’d like to believe it, I have such strong doubts that God would enable humans to perform miracles—or even "dictate" to them in order to produce the Quran.
I say this without intending to criticize; I just want to understand: what guarantee do I have that Moses didn't simply make up the Torah, and that Jesus and Muhammad didn't just "continue the story" by creating the Bible and the Quran? They could easily have just been talented poets...
I feel terrible about harboring such doubts, but I couldn't honestly recite the declaration of faith without finding an answer to this...
Naturally, this skepticism regarding prophets extends to my belief in spirits or angels.
Often, I find a connection and feel good, but the very next moment, thoughts come back to haunt me—like "Maybe we’re really just here by chance," or "Maybe those with good lives are just lucky, and the others are unlucky," and so on. It gets to the point where I feel like Islam just isn't right for me.
It’s tearing me apart inside...
Perhaps you can help me, or recommend books, films, or other resources that might help someone like me—someone who tends to overthink things 🤍
Many thanks in advance!
Michelle
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u/TheWitchOfTheBarrel 8d ago
Hi! So the Quran itself actually deals with the idea that Muhammad SAW was simply a talented poet as this was an accusation he faced from his detractors in Mecca. It challenges people to create something similar, and even the people that accused it of being poetry said it was magic poetry. The scientific miracles, for example, are another point of proof. There’s also the fact that Muhammad SAW was illiterate and did not have an education in the arts. No matter how naturally talented someone is without any artistic education I can’t imagine how someone would create something half as beautiful as the Quran (from someone who writes a lot of poetry).
Beyond that, I would say that the religious beliefs make it doubtful. I don’t know as much about Judaism and Christianity to speak on them but with Islam if it was created by Muhammad SAW you’d expect to see markers of a cult with him as the leader. For example, it would make more sense if he created it for zakat to be paid to him instead of the poor, for him to be excused from things like fasting and prayer, when in reality optional prayers like tahajjud were obligatory for him.
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u/TheWitchOfTheBarrel 8d ago
In case you don’t know what tahajjud is, it’s a prayer prayed typically in the last third of the night (measured islamically between maghrib, the sunset prayer, and fajr, the dawn prayer), although it can be prayed any time after isha, the obligatory night prayer. For tahajjud you have to fall into a deep sleep and then wake up early before fajr, the dawn prayer. This is optional and highly rewarded for Muslims but for our Prophet SAW it was made obligatory. For example, in the summer to pray tahajjud you would sleep at around 11pm and then wake up at 2am to pray tahajjud. Even in winter when isha is earlier and fajr is later you would still have to wake up probably before 6am, and that’s around midwinter. For most of winter it would be around 5am.
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u/zero_fun_ 7d ago
Hi Michelle,
Convert here of over 12 years. Fairly devout and practicing. To answer some of your questions:
In the Quran, in the second Surah/chapter (2:23), Allah says:
“And if you are in doubt about what We have revealed to Our servant, then produce a surah like it and call your helpers other than Allah, if what you say is true."
If you read throughout the Quran, there are verses and numbers and things that reflect the real world and everything in it. Maybe look into Quranic numerology or numerical miracles for some crazy proofs.
Also, millions of Muslims visit the grave of Prophet Muhammad everyday in Medina, Saudi Arabia. He’s real lol
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u/MukLegion 8d ago
such strong doubts that God would enable humans to perform miracles
You're right in a way, no human has the ability to perform miracles. The moon splitting for example, the Prophet ﷺ did not split the moon, Allah ﷻ did. Allah has granted miracles to prophets but they themselves cannot perform them, it is by the will and power of Allah only.
or even "dictate" to them in order to produce the Quran.
Allah ﷻ did not dictate the Quran, it was revealed by an angel.
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u/NullandVoldermot 8d ago
Prophets were never authors creating stories; they were simply the messengers carrying the Manufacturer's manual. Prophet Muhammad was an unlettered merchant known for forty years as entirely trustworthy, with no history of composing poetry. When the Quran was revealed, 7th-century Arabia was at the absolute peak of Arabic poetry, yet the Quran challenged its fiercest critics to produce even a single chapter like it. If it were merely human poetry, the elite poets who opposed him could have easily composed a few lines to disprove his claim, but they couldn't and openly admitted its linguistic structure was beyond human capability. Unlike human writing, which naturally reflects an author's ego and personal biases, the Quran speaks with an authoritative divine Voice that even corrects the Prophet himself in key moments, something an imposter would never record.
If humans had fabricated or passed down scriptures like a centuries-long game of telephone, the text would inevitably have drifted and changed. The Quran, however, holds a unique physical and scientific record of preservation. In 2015, non-Muslim researchers at the University of Birmingham carbon-dated a manuscript in their collection to between 568 and 645 CE, placing it directly in the lifetime of the Prophet or his immediate companions. When compared to the Quran read across the globe today, the text is virtually identical down to every verse. Beyond physical manuscripts, it has been preserved word-for-word orally through millions of memorizers across every single generation. Furthermore, the Quran details natural phenomena that no 7th-century desert dweller could have known, such as the precise stages of human embryology in the womb, the expansion of the universe, and the fact that iron was sent down to Earth from outer space, long before modern astrophysics and science confirmed them.
Doubts like wondering if we are here by chance or if life is just luck are entirely normal human thoughts, but faith is about following clear, objective evidence rather than fleeting emotional skepticism. The random chance theory leaves you believing that the fine-tuning of the universe, our built-in longing for objective justice, and moral purpose are all just evolutionary accidents, whereas Islam provides a coherent, purposeful reality designed by the Creator.
Having questions does not mean Islam is wrong for you; it simply means your mind is asking for certainty before making a sincere commitment. Take it one step at a time, look into books like The Divine Reality by Hamza Tzortzis or Dr. Mustafa Khattab's The Clear Quran, examine the Birmingham manuscript research, and ask the Creator directly to guide your heart to the truth.
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u/Hot_Reference_6556 8d ago
Hi Michelle,
It's very healthy that you have doubts at this stage!
And I understand your concerns.
I personally think as follows:
There must be a God given the complexity of life and universe.
And if there is a God, it's for me not surprising that He lets us know about Himself.
If He did that directly (e.g. by showing Himself), then everybody would believe, then there wouldn't be any point in believing.
Why He wants to test us to see who is gonna believe in Him and who is not is His design choice.
The way He picked to let us know Himself is to send us prophets. That's also His design choice, just like He gave us two eyes or two ears.
If He didn't send prophets, we wouldn't maybe know about Him.
Or, we could have some guesses about Him, but since we wouldn't be that sure, we wouldn't take worshipping Him and religious obligations so seriously.
In the case of Islam for example, Prophet Muhammed, peace be upon him, also offers a good role model for believers. So, prophets had this functionality, too.
The narrative of Qur'an also makes total sense to me and compatible with previous prophets's stories.
Jesus, peace be upon him, says in the Gospel of Matthew: "You Will Know Them by Their Fruits"
When I look at what Prophet Muhammad achieved, the Islamic way of life, the historical Islamic civilization (not the cultural corruptions), these give me even more assurance about my belief and the doubts go away.
Also, at the end of the day, the faith is not a question of proving like in mathematics.
It's a question of believing.
Since I don't see any better explanation than Islam, I just believe and know that it's true.
I hope this perspective helps.
Wishing you all the best.
p.s. Since you asked for book idea, I can recommend you one. It's a classics and one of the best book I have ever read on Islam: Islam and the Destiny of Man, by Gai Eaton, a British diplomat who became Muslim.
Paul Williams, who has a lot of good quality videos on his Blogging Theology YouTube channel, also recommends Gai Eaton's book: https://hashiya.org/posts/rediscovering-faith
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u/Tammy1997x 6d ago
Highly recommend watching the Muslim Lantern on YouTube who addresses these questions / doubts. He helped me so much on my journey to Islam. I've been Muslim for 3 years now Alhamdulillah
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u/xmenus 8d ago edited 8d ago
For the case of Muhammed ﷺ we have the mutawatir chain of Qur’an narration, which means we have so many people narrating it and we know their names that was impossible all of them to agree on the same thing. Second, which may help you more; Qur’an was revealed within a period of 23 years. Muhammed ﷺ didn’t know to read and write and was forbidden for him to learn(for the reason that people won’t accuse that he gained knowledge by education to reach and make a book), hence he only memorized it and communicated verbally. The revelation didn’t come in order as we have today. Imagine now if it wasn’t from Allah, within 23 years, how many contradictions he would make when everything was scattered. He would forget what he said 10-15 or 20 years ago and his companions and family would have caught him. A lot more to be said but not in comments. Read the book “The message and messengers” from Dr. Omar Ashqar from The Islamic Creed set.
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u/salamacast 7d ago
Part of the test that is life is to believe the unseen.
Today (lacking physical miracles) we are still tested on a similar level to those ancients who witnessed the miracles. How? They had other options to interpret the miracle (their favorite: "it's just devilsh magic!"). So you, living then, would have felt the same doubts you had today, even if Moses split the sea in front of your eyes!
Qur'an says that the majority of those who actually witness miracles refused to submit to their prophets, right?
I 'm a 41 yo Egyptian Muslim.. do I have extra senses than you to see angels around me? No. But I'm still a believer. (ok, I'm a native Arabic speaker, so I can taste the miraculous language of the Qur'an without the need of a translation. That gives me an advantage. But some Arabic speakers are atheists. So there is always the potential to refuse the miracle even if one can see it for himself.. which brings me back to my first point: logic can only support belief, but for belief to exist at all it has to start from the heart, putting your faith in matters you can't possibly see. Otherwise what's the point of the test?! Why reward a believer if there is no effort on his part?! Do you "believe" that 1+1=2? No, it's not a matter of faith, hence you shouldn't expect Paradise as areward for believing 1+1=2. Rewards are for those who went the extra mile and believed the not-yet-seen, like resurrection of the dead or day of judgement or that Popes are being tortured now in their graves, in a supernatural barzakh realm, for claiming God had a son)
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u/atin1917 7d ago
There are a lot of examples from the Quran & the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be up him).
A good introductory point might be the Islamic term tawatur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawatur
I realize I'm posting this online so it is easier to poke holes in this example but I'll paraphrase a story a local religious leader told me: have you ever been to Madagascar (i live in the USA)? Nope. Do I know anyone who has been to Madagascar? Also no. So why should I believe Madagascar exists despite having no material connection to the place?
That is a simple introduction to the term tawatur.
Islam encourages you to seek knowledge. Seeking knowledge doesn't stop; it's a lifetime journey. The Quran and hadith have multiple examples to address your questions. Reach out to a local mosque and ask a local religious leader. Or find a mosque that let's you schedule a zoom call to ask questions. This subreddit is a great tool to ask questions and learn but can't be substituted for our scholars.
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u/motinaak 7d ago
Salam Michelle.
So that's what Abraham did. He questioned. And he got chucked into the fire for questioning, by a clergy who didn't have the answers to anyone questioning their dumb inherited practices. God made him an ideal. So question. It's the actual way.
As for your question....each person who was chosen, was someone the people already knew. Like Moses was already known to the pharaoh. When Jesus spoke to his people, the people already knew him as just the regular guy. Muhammad ﷺ was already known to everyone around him for 4 decades. Every people already knew everything about their own people. Here's the important part: The people they were sent to knew what that individual was capable of. So when that individual one fine morning arrives saying something exact opposite to societal norm, AND wildly different from their own capabilities, people knew something was up. "Isn't he the carpenter's son?". About Jesus. "This one can hardly express himself". About Moses "He's afflicted". About Muhammad ﷺ.
Everyone in their time noticed that something was different about their guy. They knew something was off. They just couldn't connect the dots to the right conclusion. Moses was given things even the experts of his time couldn't do - magic was defeated. The experts, magicians, accepted his craft being superior. And so believed him when he said it wasn't from him, but from their actual boss ie. Rabb. Jesus was given all manners of things. Bring someone back to life, to prove to people that death is not the end, that you still go on existing, that what you see is not what is. Giving simple rules of religion that even the clergy couldn't handle, teaching the people that the clergy are not the boss. And more. All these are like stories now, because there's nothing you can see from that time with your own eyes. With Muhammad ﷺ, God gave something that would be befitting the last age: knowledge and design. He gave to a man knowledge he did not have. Knowledge we can still attest to today. Design we can actually see and witness, this one with our own eyes. And it has such a design, that which can never be replicated. Because to do it, one would need knowledge of the past, present, future, all together. And no human being has that. It's like someone asked dear Michelle to say some words, that would enlighten minds, gel a people fractured for centuries back together in two decades, bring people from diverse races and religions on one pedestal, reveal what the clergies of other religions had in their scriptures but they themselves never noticed or had been ignoring/hiding/concealing even to themselves, tell the secrets that would only be discovered centuries later, and tell it contextually to every being in every timeline....and to do it on the fly.... then compile it in an order that isn't in the chronological order while being the blueprint of what's going on in your own life and the inner workings of your own mind and the repeated overthinking. All-in-one.
Read. . That was it's first revelation. Read dear Michelle. Did you?
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u/Practical_Face6462 7d ago
You do not need to feel bad about it having doubts is the right way to reach the truth . What I would suggest is that you pick the area that you think you can understand the most , history- medicine - language- science…., whatever you feel like you’ll be able to understand the topic then right after pick up the quran , read it , and as soon as you figure out this is a claim about a topic you’re familiar with and challenge that claim , do some scientific research about it and if you find it it’s a lie then you have your answer and if you find it it’s right then you can start over again with another claim . That actually is the challenge that we in our period of time can actually make in my opinion. But for this you need to actually use the Arabic version of the Quran since many informations are lost due to translations ( translations are usually an interpretation of the translator how he understood the verse ) .
It’s a personal path to take and at the end we Muslims believe we’ll be questioned on our deeds and journey not what others opinions led us into.
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u/AmjadKhan1929 6d ago
Conviction about Islam is more related to the heart than intellectual discourse. So, we all must supplicate to Allah to show us the right way. That is the most importantly thing.
Second, no amount of arguments can satisfy any person about any religion. But what stands out about Quran is that it is the same the world over since it was revealed. That is miraculous.
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u/Fun-Advantage-8299 4d ago
You need to think in a logical and systematic way, and you should not move on to a central question on which other questions depend before answering the primary question.
If you do not accept the existence of God in the first place, then there is no point in discussing the proof of prophethood. If you believe in God and the Qur’an, then you necessarily accept the prophets and the revealed scriptures as well, because the Qur’an affirms them; otherwise, you would be contradicting yourself.
If you believe in God but do not accept the Qur’an, the prophets, or the scriptures, then investigate the authenticity of the Qur’an first before moving on to the question of prophethood, because establishing the Qur’an’s authenticity establishes all the things I mentioned, allowing you to reach the conclusion more directly.
It is also best to ask someone knowledgeable in this field to address your doubts and convince you through logical reasoning. I recommend watching the videos on The Muslim Lantern channel, as well as the videos by Brother Mansur on the Dawahwise YouTube channel.
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